In addition to artificial intelligence and the internet of things, the South Korean telco will also heavily invest in the development of 5G technologies.
SK Telecom confirmed it will spend 5 trillion won ($4.2 billion) over the next three years to develop technology and services in the artificial intelligence and the “internet of things” fields, local press reported.
SK Telecom said the investment plan, which is set to be in coordination with its two affiliates SK Broadband and SK Planet, will focus on creating a new ecosystem for AI, self-driving cars and the “internet of things.” During the recent CES event in Las Vegas, SK Telecom said it discussed with Samsung Electronics, Nvidia and Intel possible cooperation in the fields of AI, connected cars and IoT.
A part of the investment is set to include financial support for local start-ups. The investment is expected to generate about 9 trillion won in revenue and create about 60,000 jobs, SK Telecom said.
Additionally, SK Telecom has said it will invest 6 trillion won in the development of “5G” technologies by 2019, with the aim of launching a commercial 5G service in 2020.
Last year, the telco said it completed the development of 24 different IoT services for the domestic market. In November 2016, SK Telecom announced plans to launch at least 35 IoT services using LoRa-based wireless technology.
The carrier said it finished building a LoRaWAN network across the country at the end of June 2016, six months earlier than its initial schedule, and that the network covers 99% of the population. The telco expects to connect more than 4 million devices to its LoRa networks by the end of 2017.
